Both put buyers and short sellers have been upping the ante on Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (HALO)
Put players have been active in
Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:HALO) options pits in recent months, per data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). In fact, the equity's 50-day put/call volume ratio across this trio of exchanges sits at 0.57 -- in the 99th percentile of its annual range.
Echoing this trend is HALO's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.48, which rests higher than 92% of all similar readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, short-term speculators have been
more put-heavy toward the security just 8% of the time within the past year.
This skepticism is seen outside of HALO's options arena, as well. Short interest, for example, jumped 7.1% in the latest reporting period, and now accounts for a lofty 16.6% of the equity's available float. Additionally, it would take shorts more than three weeks to cover these shorted shares, at the security's average daily pace of trading.
What's surprising is that there is this amount of pessimism levied toward a stock that's almost doubled in value on a year-to-date basis. Today alone, the shares have jumped 5.2% to trade at $18.93 -- and are fresh off an all-time peak of $19.05 -- on news the company has inked
another collaboration deal, this time
with AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV). Should Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) extend its trek into record-high territory, a capitulation from option bears and/or short sellers could help fuel the equity's fire.